Bob Hillman had a real thing going on in the early 2000s. He had made waves in New York City, rubbing shoulders with some of the finest songwriters of the era at places like Fast Folk and The Living Room. The singer-songwriter was creatively fulfilled, but not gaining the momentum needed to experience strategic growth in folk music. After opening a long list of dates for Suzanne Vega, Hillman decided it was time to step away and get back to business… school that is. He got his MBA in marketing and went on to hold a decent paying job for the next decade and a half, raising his family in the Bay Area.
After a layoff, Bob thought it was time to dig in again and started writing, recording, and performing. Since 2016, he’s released a couple of albums and an EP or two. The most recent is the mostly acoustic Downtown in the Rain. In our conversation, we talk about what it’s like to reignite his creative entrepreneurial musical spirit, how he used that energy in his corporate jobs, and also how he hopes to one day meet his singing partner on the EP, Maria Taylor.
Last weekend, on March 16, musicians and artists from across the country descended on Fort Worth’s Southside Preservation Hall for the 2024 edition of the Fort Worth African American Roots Music Festival – known affectionately as FWAAMFest. This year’s event was the biggest yet in the annual festival’s four-year run, boasting a lineup of country, old-time, blues, ragtime, folk, Americana, and so much more.
Below, check out select photos from FWAAMFest that highlight the mission and scope of this quickly up-and-coming festival and community-building event. There’s truly something for everyone at FWAAMFest, including workshops and lectures on pre-World War I banjo playing, a live taping of BGS’s and Folk Alley’s podcast, Basic Folk, delicious soul food and ice cream provided by Carpenter’s Cafe & Catering, Lil Boy Blu, and Cow Tipping Creamery, and a superlative lineup of musicians, artists, songwriters, and instrumentalists. (Learn more about the artists on the lineup here.)
FWAAMFest is programmed and presented by Decolonizing the Music Room, a non-profit organization founded by festival director Brandi Waller-Pace. DtMR has a mission of building more equitable futures in music education, music performance, ethnomusicology, and beyond. As such, their success – and the continuation of the remarkable FWAAMFest – is dependent upon the generosity of roots music fans such as yourself.
If you believe in the future of FWAAMFest and Decolonizing the Music Room and want to help it continue into the future, you can donate now on the official festival website. Additionally, banjo player, songwriter, and scholar Rhiannon Giddens has pledged a $5,000 matching donation if two or more high level donors give at that dollar amount. If you have the resources, consider devoting funds to the important and vital mission of FWAAMFest and DtMR.
As you will see from our photo recap below, this is an event worth investing in. Make plans now to attend FWAAMFest in the future and, if you’re able, donate!
Piedmont Blūz Acoustic Duo – Valerie and Benedict Turner – take the FWAAMFest stage.
Cool Black folks & banjos, plus cool merch, too! FWAAMFest has it all.
Stephanie Anne Johnson wowed the crowd at FWAAMFest.
Dary Ford-James of the Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellowship plays the fiddle.
Jerron Paxton presented a workshop entitled "Popular Banjo Before WWI."
Joy Clark sings to FWAAMFest attendees.
Valerie Turner of Piedmont Blūz Acoustic Duo speaks to the attendees of FWAAMFest.
Miles Spicer of Maryland-based blues duo, Spice Cake Blues.
FWAAMFest founder and director Brandi Walller-Pace with daughter, Sparrow, open the festival at Fort Worth's Southside Preservation Hall. (Photo by IJ Routen.)
Corey Harris performs at FWAAMFest 2024. (Photo by Ben Noey Jr.)
Jontavious Willis sings during his set at FWAAMFest 2024.
Texas born-and-raised blues and Americana musician EJ Mathews performs at FWAAMFest. (Photo by Ben Noey Jr.)
Jontavious Willis performs during FWAAMFest. (Photo by Ben Noey Jr.)
Lizzie No is stylin' on the FWAAMFest stage.
Pacific Northwest-based singer-songwriter Stephanie Anne Johnson also performed during FWAAMFest.
Blues musician and guitarist Corey Harris.
Guitarist Joy Clark certainly brings joy wherever she plays.
Lizzie No interviews Jontavious Willis for a live taping of BGS's and Folk Alley's podcast, Basic Folk. (Photo by Ben Noey Jr.)
Singer-songwriter Crys Matthews performs for a rapt FWAAMFest audience.
Crys Matthews picks up a banjo during her set. (Photo by Ben Noey Jr.)
EJ Mathews sings during his FWAAMFest set.
Jerron Paxton serenades the FWAAMFest crowd.
Crys Matthews sings and plays guitar.
Country songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and podcast host Lizzie No headlined this year's FWAAMFest.
All photos by Justin Ikpo Photography unless otherwise noted. Additional photos by Ben Noey Jr. and IJ Routen.
Joe Pug will not engage in the left-brained vs. right-brained debate. His artistry and pragmatic business sense have lived in actual parallel through his music career. His songwriting and creativity are fueled by passion and result in dramatic and exciting songs, as on his new album Sketch of a Promised Departure. He’s stayed ahead of the curve and created an ecosystem where self-reliance, growth and business thrive especially with his latest venture, The Nation of Heat Vault, that has every album, podcast, and newsletter up behind a paywall. In our interview, we dig into his creative process, family life and artistic balance while creating his latest project.
The album was made on his own time at his new home studio, which he’s been working on for a decade. His reflection on having complete control over the music production is one of relief and joy in that he was able to take as long as he wanted. In this episode, we go through several songs on the album, remarking on songs like “Then the Rain,” which shines in its simplicity just like many songs of Lucinda Williams’, one of his biggest inspirations. We also talk about his journey into adulthood when he moved to Chicago, a chapter in his life he writes about in detail on the new album. He talks about what he hopes for his own young kids’ futures and how parenting has changed since he first became a dad seven or eight years ago. And of course, we talk about his fantastic podcast, The Working Songwriter, and how being an interviewer has changed his attitude about being the interviewee.
BGS’s third year on board Cayamo’s Journey Through Song brought no shortage of familiar faces and “fun in the sun” vibes.
From a jam-tastic BGS Nightcap set lead by our pals Mipso – which included appearances from Hiss Golden Messenger, Dom Flemons, Lizzie No, Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive, and Taylor Ashton – to live podcast tapings with Basic Folk hosts Cindy Howes and Lizzie No. There was our exclusive wine tasting experience hosted by myself and Mipso’s Jacob Sharp (who moonlights as a wine rep for Terrestrial Wines). There were stopovers in Aruba and the Dominican Republic and countless musical sets from the likes of Lyle Lovett, Lake Street Dive, Rodney Crowell, Shawn Colvin, the Black Opry, Waxahatchee, and so many more! Our eight days on the high seas went by way too fast.
Our team documented the whole thing (on our new Camp Snap screen-free digital camera!) so you, too, can soak up the sunshine and memories. Will you join us on board next year? The 2025 lineup was just announced and suffice to say we’ve already got some great things cooking for Cayamoans. But hurry, because this is one fest that sells out faster than you can say piña colada… – Amy Reitnouer Jacobs, BGS executive director
Booking information and more details available at Cayamo.com
A scene from Oranjestad, Aruba, one of two tropical ports visited during Cayamo's Journey Through Song.
A live conversation, taped for Basic Folk, on the importance of community building in the landscape of music as commodity.
Lizzie No and Jenny Owen Youngs stand side stage after the live Basic Folk podcast taping and conversation.
A live podcast taping of Basic Folk with Leyla McCalla and band and hosts Cindy Howes and Lizzie No.
Mipso and Taylor Ashton get the fun going during the BGS Nightcap on board Cayamo.
Backstage at the BGS Nightcap.
Mipso joined by special guests during the BGS Nightcap.
Hiss Golden Messenger guests with longtime friends Mipso at the BGS Nightcap.
Mipso, house band of our BGS Nightcap jam on board Cayamo, perform with the American Songster, Dom Flemons.
Taylor Ashton (with banjo) and Patrick McAloon hang back stage at the BGS Nightcap.
A BGS Mercantile favorite spotted in the tropical wild!
Hiss Golden Messenger performs with band.
Jacob Sharp (of Mipso) poses on the beach during a port excursion.
Pop country brother duo, the Kentucky Gentlemen, perform.
Jacob Sharp (of Mipso) and BGS director Amy Reitnouer Jacobs lead an intimate wine tasting on board.
A friendly macaw.
Lake Street Dive jumped on stage during the Black Opry live artist karaoke set.
Lizzie No performs.
Country singer-songwriter Nikki Lane performs.
Mipso try their luck at the onboard casino.
Rodney Crowell performs on the pool deck to a packed "house."
SistaStrings pictured during a sunset cocktail hour on the upper decks of the Norwegian Pearl.
BGS executive director Amy Reitnouer Jacobs with SistaStrings.
Many a sunset hang was had.
A beautiful horizon featuring the mighty wake of the Norwegian Pearl, viewed from the ship's stern.
All photos by Amy Reitnouer Jacobs shot on Camp Snap.
The fourth annual edition of the Fort Worth African American Roots Music Festival (AKA FWAAMFest) will take place this weekend, on Saturday, March 16, at Southside Preservation Hall in Fort Worth, Texas. BGS has been proud to support and sponsor this quickly up-and-coming event over the past few years and 2024’s edition of the all-day festival will be the biggest FWAAMFest yet.
The festival has a mission of centering the vital and transformative contributions of Black and African-American folks to American roots music. Though their purview at first glance may seem “niche,” this is a concept that is as broad and expansive as it is pointed and specific. Festival organizer, Decolonizing the Music Room founding director Brandi Waller-Pace – a regular contributor to and collaborator of BGS – goes out of her way each year to demonstrate Black music, Black artists, and Black stories are not monoliths. Each year’s lineup is carefully curated to show FWAAMFest audience members the depth and breadth of Black musical traditions, not only in Fort Worth but around the country.
Tickets for the event are competitively priced ($50 general admission, $30 for students, with discounts for educators and children) and are truly an excellent value. Where else under one roof can you enjoy workshops, partake in Oakland Public Conservatory of Music’s Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellowship, dine on excellent barbeque and soul food, and hear sets from Jerron Paxton, Lizzie No, Crys Matthews, Joy Clark, Jontavious Willis, Corey Harris, Piedmont Bluz Acoustic Duo, Spice Cake Blues, Lilli Lewis, EJ Mathews, Stephanie Anne Johnson, Patrice Strahan, and Darcy Ford-James?
Below, take some time to familiarize yourself with this year’s FWAAMFest lineup while you make your plans to join Fort Worth at Southside Preservation hall this Saturday for an incomparable day filled with music, history, fellowship, and community building.
Jerron Paxton
Well known to BGS, Jerron Paxton – who you may know as “Blind Boy” Paxton – is a blues, old-time, and ragtime musician adept on many instruments, from piano to banjo to harmonica and beyond. Paxton was on BGS’s Shout & Shine Online lineup in 2020, a virtual showcase also curated by Brandi Waller-Pace. We’ve spoken to Paxton a few times about his incredible, timeless sound – and how he doesn’t view his music as coming from the past, but being rooted in the present. With his material and storytelling, he demonstrates how all of these American roots genres are so closely intertwined.
Lizzie No
Lizzie No’s new album, Halfsies, is certainly one of the best releases of the year. An Americana and country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, No has a perspective that’s effortlessly modern while steeped in country traditions of the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s. There’s introspective indie touches, pop infusions, and an end result that’s truly singular. Her music has plenty to sink your teeth into, and we go back to it time and time again.
Check out a recent GOOD COUNTRY feature about feminine country that highlights No and Halfsies and take some time to discover why our co-founder, Ed Helms, highly recommends her music via Ed’s Picks. Oh, and did we mention No co-hosts a BGS podcast, Basic Folk, too? An entire multi-hyphenate, right here!
Corey Harris
Corey Harris is a blues musician who has busked the streets of New Orleans, lived in Cameroon and West Africa, collaborated with Taj Mahal, and garnered millions of streams. His is an old-fashioned sound, but without essentialism or facing backwards. The lead single and title track from his upcoming album, Chicken Man, is out now – watch for the full record later this month. Based in Charlottesville, Virginia, don’t miss your opportunity to see this world-traveling blues picker and singer in Fort Worth.
Piedmont Bluz Acoustic Duo
Valerie and Benedict Turner are Piedmont Bluz Acoustic Duo, inductees of the New York Blues Hall of Fame. They’re committed to bringing “awareness to these unique aspects of African-American culture,” especially Piedmont style fingerpicking, washboard, and what they (rightly) call “country blues.” They’ve traveled all around the world playing Piedmont blues and they’re especially adept at preserving songs and sounds from artists like Mississippi John Hurt, Etta Baker, and Libba Cotten while showing how important their music is in modern contexts – in the present moment.
Crys Matthews
Singer-songwriter-picker Crys Matthews is another FWAAMFest 2024 artist that’s a well known name to BGS readers. An activist in songwriter form, Matthews writes pointed, sharp, and compassionate protest music that’s never saccharine or blinders-on, a rare feat in folk music. She also has a guitar playing style all her own – playing left handed, with the guitar upside down, she also reminds of musicians like Elizabeth Cotten. But still, what listeners take away from her joyful and encouraging sets, filled to bursting with solidarity, is an understanding that what Matthews does with her music is an art form all her own. Check out a BGS fan favorite from 2023, Matthews’ collaboration with Heather Mae and Melody Walker on a rousing community-minded number, “Room.”
Jontavious Willis
Grammy nominee Jontavious Willis was born and raised in rural Georgia and his childhood was filled with gospel music and connections to deep cultural traditions. As a teenager, he discovered Muddy Waters and the blues; it wasn’t long ’til he was sharing stages with Taj Mahal, Keb’ Mo’, and so many of his heroes and forebears. (Mahal called him “Wonderboy,” a certainly fitting and worthy title!) Willis makes music with a huge scope and limitless lifespan, but in that same DIY, hard-scrabble, down to earth way so highly valued in the blues. In 2018, he won the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge Award for Best Self-Produced CD, and his 2019 follow up, Spectacular Class, garnered his Grammy nomination and millions of streams on digital platforms.
Joy Clark
Guitarist Joy Clark is rapidly on the rise – and deservedly so! She tours and performs with the Black Opry Revue, with Allison Russell’s Rainbow Coalition, and as an incredibly accomplished solo picker-singer-songwriter. Just last month, she wowed the Folk Alliance International audience at the International Folk Music Awards with her tribute to Tracy Chapman, showing the intuitive and intentional connections between Clark and queer, Black guitarists, musicians, and songwriters who came before her. The most remarkable thing about Clark’s music, though, is not that it reminds of other musicians and artists – even when it does. Instead, it’s impossible to deny that Clark has a voice on the guitar that is all her own and she’s on a steady march to bring that voice to the world. Thank goodness!
Spice Cake Blues
FWAAMFest has it all, from internationally known artists to insider favorites to gem-like discoveries, like duo Spice Cake Blues. A new introduction to BGS and our readers, Spice Cake features Miles Spicer and Jael Patterson and they are based out of Maryland. Spicer is a co-founder of the Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation and an accomplished Piedmont (and multi-style) guitar picker. Jael, who also goes by Yaya, is a powerful and soulful singer. Spicer also performs with Jackie Merritt and Resa Gibbs in the M.S.G. Acoustic Blues Trio. (M.S.G. = Merritt, Spicer, Gibbs.)
Lilli Lewis
You may know her as “Folk Rock Diva,” Lilli Lewis is a powerhouse vocalist, pianist, songwriter, former record label runner, and forever community builder. Her shows are entrancing, like a combination of Wednesday-night church and a New Orleans Saturday night. Lewis is prolific and critically-acclaimed, and something of a genre and context shapeshifter, unifying the many sounds and styles she inhabits with her heartfelt stories and encouraging words of insight. Her latest album, All is Forgiven, was released in December 2023. Don’t miss her cover of Radiohead’s “Creep,” though, too – there’s a reason it’s so often requested at her concerts!
EJ Mathews
EJ Mathews was born and raised in Atlanta… Texas. A small town near the Arkansas border, Mathews grew up listening to the music of his grandpa – an even mix of country and blues. As such, his sound infuses as much modern blues as country, southern rock, and gospel, with infinite feel and groove. His 2020 single, “Smokin’ & Drankin'” shows so many of the styles he effortlessly combines. Now living in Dallas, Mathews will make the relatively short hike over to Fort Worth for FWAAMFest to bring his unique, melting-pot sound to Southside Preservation Hall.
Stephanie Anne Johnson
Stephanie Anne Johnson is a singer-songwriter and radio host based in the Pacific Northwest. Born and raised in Tacoma, they were already becoming a common sight in folk and Americana circles when they seemingly burst onto the national scene appearing on season five of NBC’s The Voice. Johnson is another FWAAMFest artist who was featured on the Shout & Shine Online lineup in 2020 curated by Waller-Pace. Criminally underrated in national folk, Americana, and indie circles, Johnson creates powerful music that brings love, mental health, togetherness, and redemption all under a compassionate lens – and with a remarkably grounded sensibility. Whether solo or with their band, the HiDogs, Stephanie Anne Johnson is an entrancing musician and songwriter. Don’t miss their 2023 album, Jewels.
You can see all these artists and so much more this weekend at FWAAMFest in Fort Worth! Get your tickets now.
Photos courtesy of FWAAMFest. L to R: Crys Matthews; Jerron Paxton; Lizzie No.
Singer-songwriter Hannah Connolly, originally from Eau Claire, Wisconsin (the same as Justin Vernon and the Bon Iver crew!) has just released her second solo album, Shadowboxing. Written to reflect on musical and life transitions, it was recorded in beautiful Idyllwild, California, just outside of her new hometown of Los Angeles. While in that mountain town, Hannah reconnected with nature through hiking, finding joy in connecting with her friends and collaborators in music.
The process of making Shadowboxing, which was celebratory and fun, was crucial for Connolly’s mental health in music. Her debut album, 2020’s From Where We Are, centered around the trauma and healing she and her family faced after her little brother, Cullen, was killed by a drunk driver in 2015. Born with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Cullen was the life of the party and a bright light in every room he entered. Being able to process and mourn his loss through the making of her first record was not only extremely difficult, but also very necessary for Hannah. In our Basic Folk conversation, we talk about who Cullen was and how he continues to influence Hannah’s life and music. These days, Hannah is looking for the fun and lightness again, which is exactly what her little brother would want her to do.
Even though Connolly’s visual storytelling and folky roots are strong, they are no match for her love of emo music, which has influenced her since she was a teenager. She even performed, recorded, and toured in an emo band prior to “going solo.” Hannah gets into her emo past, her childhood stint in musical theater and, of course, cheese curds in this new episode of Basic Folk. She also gives us the all important updates on her wedding planning! She recently got engaged to Eric Cannata of the alternative rock band, Young the Giant. I’m so happy for Hannah, not only for her future marriage, but also for creating this joyful new album.
Bestie Lizzie No has just released their career-defining new record, Halfsies, and we are 100% here for it on our 250th episode! Lizzie, who co-hosts Basic Folk, put her entire being, identity, and creativity into this project. There’s a lot going on with their main character, the avatar Miss Freedomland, and we’re getting to the bottom of it in our conversation.
Our hero’s journey begins even before the main character is born. Her inception grew out of disdain for childhood beauty pageants – which Lizzie’s mother actually won back in the early ’60s at a now defunct amusement park called Freedomland. And, there are photos of Little Catherine Quinlan with a look of disgust on her five-year-old face. Lizzie grew up with this story and as she got older, she began to think hard about societal expectations and the stock put into women and children’s emotional expression through their faces. Lizzie also grew up hearing and saying the word “No,” hence the stage name.
Enter Miss Freedomland! (Also the name of Lizzie’s new record label.) She has been tasked with a journey to become free, which will require inner healing, exploration of self-identity, and giving up performance of gender that just feels wrong. The album starts with our main character trying to level up (because, yes, this is a video game) with her own self-expression, revisiting past traumas and shedding the baggage and hot garbage that got her trapped in the first place.
In our conversation, we go track by track through this showstopper of a record and even get some solo live performances. I hope you enjoy exploring Lizzie’s world as much as I did. These songs are brilliant and the concept executed remarkably. Thanks to Studio 9 in North Adams, Massachusetts for the use of their beautiful studio!
Dinty Child, founding member of Session Americana, the beloved Boston roots music collective who’ve accidentally been a band for 20 years, has just released his second solo album, Letting the Lions In. The new songs feature co-writing on all tracks between Dinty and Boston area songwriters like Mark Erelli, Kris Delmhorst, and Dave Godowsky. A self-proclaimed slow-writer, the majority of these songs were written on the annual Sub Rosa songwriting retreat Dinty runs on Three Mile Island (no, not that Three Mile Island) on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. Owned by the Appalachian Mountain Club, Dinty’s family has been working at the island for over 100 years. Dinty currently serves as the off-season manager, putting his musician and carpenter skills to good use hosting songwriter friends at said retreat – like Rose Cousins, Rose Polenzani, Rachael Price, Miss Tess and many more, as well as Miles of Music, a summer camp run by Dinty, Kristin Andreassen, and Laura Cortese.
Letting the Lions In was co-produced by Zachariah Hickman (Josh Ritter, Ray LaMontagne) and recorded at Great North Sound in Parsonsfield, Maine over the course of three days in the spring of 2021. Dinty says, “I often trade construction work for studio time there.”
During our conversation, we dig into why these songs needed to be recorded. Our consensus is that legacy and spreading joy to his community are the top two reasons. Also, Dinty, who says an annoyingly large percentage of his songs start as dreams, talks about what kind of sleeper he is, what’s with the lion, and his thoughts on drinking – thanks to the handful of alcohol songs on the new album. Dinty is a dear friend to the podcast and an important part of the New England musical landscape, we’re thrilled to have him on the show!
Tyrone Cotton, a decades-long mainstay of the Louisville, Kentucky music scene, just released his debut album, Man Like Me. A quick listen to these songs reveals an artist who has spent decades steeped in roots music. Lizzie No spoke with Tyrone and Ray Rizzo, one of the album’s producers, about Tyrone’s journey as an artist and the making of Man Like Me.
Tyrone grew up listening to his grandfather and his friends in the neighborhood playing guitar. With his $60 guitar in hand, Tyrone headed off to music school, studying classic guitar under David Kelsey. At first a shy performer, he leaned into his craft and into the supportive musical community he found in Louisville. Cotton has become a stalwart of the local music scene, playing club shows and a standing gig at a local senior center where he brings the house down with soul classics.
This is where producer Ray Rizzo enters our story. A Kentuckian since the age of 11, he was well-versed in the Louisville music scene when he came across Tyrone and his music at The Rudyard Kipling, a club in town. Ray’s admiration for Tyrone’s songwriting and musical instincts was a guiding principle as they went into the studio to record Man Like Me. Rizzo had spent years watching Cotton perform and wanted to make sure that he captured the magic he had witnessed so many times. If the confident, eclectic roots of Man Like Me are any indication, Tyrone Cotton has more stories to tell and we will be lucky to listen. What makes this album special is what makes the best Americana albums special: a patchwork of influences and traditions, the best of contemporary recording techniques, and a singular storytelling voice.
(Editor’s note: Each issue of Good Country, our co-founder Ed Helms will share a handful of good country artists, albums, and songs direct from his own earphones in Ed’s Picks.
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